ShoreTel Names Technology Veteran Peter Blackmore as CEO

IP communications vendor ShoreTel has found a new CEO in Peter Blackmore (pictured), former head of telecom services provider UTStarcom. Will Blackmore succeed in making ShoreTel even stronger against the likes of Cisco and Avaya? Here’s a bit of perspective:

Blackmore’s resume is pretty impressive, with a strong background in both technology and telecom. He most recently was president, CEO and a member of the board of directors at UTStarcom, a stalwart communications service provider specializing in IP communications. While at UTStarcom, Blackmore focused the company’s efforts on penetrating emerging markets in China and India.

Before making the leap to telecom, Blackmore was an executive vice president in charge of worldwide sales and marketing at Unisys and an executive vice president at Hewlett-Packard, where he was in charge of the company’s Customer Solutions Group, which included account management of HP’s enterprise and small- and midsize-business customers. (However, he exited in 2004 after HP suffered a $208 million third-quarter operating loss for the division, which may have been more indicative of the way HP was being run under Carly Fiorina rather than Blackmore’s performance.) Blackmore came to HP from Compaq, where he served as senior vice president and executive vice president until HP acquired Compaq in 2001.

Extensive credentials, for sure. Plus, Blackmore has much experience with the channel, so he knows what makes partners tick. Such perspective can potentially help ShoreTel better align itself with its partners and convey the message that it is a true contender in the communications space.

Between ShoreTel’s business moves – including its acquisition of Agito Networks in October 2010 and a program that guarantees the lowest total cost of ownership for new ShoreTel customers – and numerous accolades from various analyst firms for its technology and its market strength, ShoreTel is a company worth watching.

Sign up for The VAR Guy’s Weekly Newsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Follow The VAR Guy via RSS, Facebook and Twitter. Follow experts at VARtweet. Read The VAR Guy’s editorial disclosures here.